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,3 ,015 No Drawing:

To all whom 'z't may concern: 7 v I Be it kuown'thatI, ALEXANDER K. SnoowrcK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of San J os county :of- Santa Clara, and 'State ofJ-Cali ornia, have invented a a new and useful Praeessof Extracting Sulfur from Sulfur Ores,

of which the following'is a specification.

The invention relates to a process of eX-- tractmg sulfur from'ores containing sulfur.

Sulfuris ordinarily extracted from its ore by heatmg the ore to a temperature sufli ciently'high-trrmelt the sulfur, whicl then flows. in liquid form from the mass oforeand is collected. 'Many sulfur ores, however, contain finely divided particles of otheranaterial such as clay, earth or sand, or material which breaks up into finely divided I particles when heated, such as some. classes of shale, and these finely divided particles "mix with and flow out with the melted sulfur,..iso that pure sulfur or a commercial grade of sulfur is not obtained.

An object of my invention is to provide a process of extracting sulfur from sulfur ores containingfinely divided ,material or Jamterial which becomes finely (llYldGCl on heatvdn'accordan'cc with my invention I heat the sulfur ore to a temperature suificiently high to melt the sulfur, so that the sulfur becomes liquid, and then subject the heated vmmass to the action of centrifugal force, while maintaining such temperature so that the liquid sulfur is separated fromthe rema1nder of the ore, and then cool the mass to solidify the liquid sulfur while under the I liquid sulfur, being of different specific grav-" influence ofthe centrifugal force. The

ity than the other materials in the ore is separated therefrom by centrifugal force, and by, cooling the mass while subjected to centrifugal action, the separated sulfur is solidified and the separation thereby main tained. Sulfur melts at approximately 239 Faln'enheitand on gradually increasing ,the' heat above that pointv the sulfur becomes brown and viscousi If the heat is continued, the mass liquefies again at 500 Fahrenheit. In accordance with my process the sulfur may be heated to either liquefaction point before being subjected to centrifugal force, although on account of its lower temperature, the first liquefactionperiod is probably preferable.

i v Specification of letters Patent. Applicatibnf'iiled October 4, i917. Serial No. 194,664.

' a crushed condition,

' sulfur. The ore may be: melted before to melt the sulfur,

sulfur.

Patented Oct. 7, win.

In practice, I place the ore, preferably in in a centrifuge and heat it to the liquefaction temperature of the be agitated to secure an equal distribution of heat. After the sulfurhas; melted, the centrifuge is rotated 'to separate the liquid sulfur from the remainder of the ore and the mass is then cooled while in rotation, to solidify the sulfur, after which the mass is removed from the centrifuge, and the sulfur separated from theremainder of the, ore.

When desirable, the sulfur in the ore may being placed in the centrifuge, but-under such conditions the sulfur 7 must be kept in the liquid form in the cen trifuge for a sufiicient time to permit the centrifugal force to complete the separation. It is also desirable in some instances to add wateror other liquid, in which sulfur is not soluble, to the ore before it is heated, the water being present in suflicient quantity to insure the proper transfer of heat throughout the mass. lVhen water is used, the centrifuge chambers in which the ore is placed must be tightly closed in order that the desired temperature may be attained. lVhen the mass has been sufficiently heated ugal force to separate the liquid sulfur from the remainder of the mass,- and is cooled while subjected to the action of such force, to solidify the separated sulfur. I claim:

1. The process of extracting sulfur from sulfur ores, which includes heating the ore 3. The process of extracting sulfur from sulfur ores, which consists in crushing the ore, heating the crushed ore to liqu'efy the, sulfur, subjecting the heated ore to the action of centrifugal force to separate liquid sulfur from the remainder of the'ore, and

it is subjected to centrifthen coo1ing" ;the mass while ifi is sub jooted to centrifugal-force:

'4. The process of extracting sulfur-from sulfur woo -which consists inadding .to the ore a. liquid in which sulfur is insoluble,

' heating the mixtuxeinwanclosed Lvessel a item emturo suficiently high to 'liquefy the 4 w sabjeotingihwpixture to thoiactionoi centrifugal fovce while-.-mainisaining said n testimony wherof, I have hereunto set my h'mitl at San Francisco, California, this 23th day of Se tember,-1917.

DER K. SEDGWIOKu 

